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Liberalism at High Latitudes: The Politics of Polar Exploration in the Habsburg Monarchy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

Stephen A. Walsh
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Extract

In the autumn of 1874, Austrian popular society seemed ablaze with talk of ice. The Habsburg monarchy's first major polar expedition was returning, and, as the German geographer August Petermann put it, “No field commander, returning home with his army victorious from battle, could be received more magnificently and enthusiastically than this small band of twenty- two men.” The first published narrative of the expedition was released in Vienna around 24 September and had sold out of its print run of forty-five thousand copies by 27 September. This figure, however, is dwarfed by contemporary estimates of the multitude that turned up to welcome the explorers to Vienna on 25 September: around a quarter million, or approximately one-fourth of the city's entire population. Although such figures should be taken with a grain of salt, the festivities that greeted the explorers involved possibly the largest crowds seen on the streets of Vienna between the revolutions of 1848–49 and the mass marches of the Social Democratic Party in support of universal male suffrage around the turn of the century.

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Articles
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 47 , April 2016 , pp. 89 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 2016 

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References

1 Petermann, August, “Provisorische Bemerkungen,” in “Die zweite Österreichisch–Ungarische Nordpolar-Expedition unter Weyprecht und Payer, 1872/4” Petermanns Geographische Mittheilungen (hereafter PGM) 20 (1874): 381–92Google Scholar, at 381–86, quote at 381.

2 Franz Josef Singer, Unsere Nordpolfahrer: Ein Wort an das Volk zur Feier der Rettung und Heimkehr der Helden des Tages (Vienna, 1874). The author makes reference to events up to 18 September 1874, and its first advertisement was printed in the 24 September edition of Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt (of which Singer was cofounder). The announcement that the first run of 45,000 was sold out is from the same newspaper, 27 September 1874.

3 “Die Nordpolfahrer in Wien,” Neue Freie Presse, 26 September 1874.

4 For a thorough analysis of the (primarily Viennese) media's reception of the Tegetthoff Expedition in the autumn of 1874, see Johan Schimanski and Ulrike Spring, Passagiere des Eises: Polarhelden und arktische Diskurse 1874 (Vienna, 2015).

5 The best synthesis of the various narratives surrounding the Tegetthoff Expedition is Enrico Mazzoli, Dall'Adriatico ai Ghiacci: Ufficiali dell'Austria-Ungheria con i loro marinai istriani, fiumani e dalmati alla conquista dell'Artico (Gorizia, 2003).

6 See Dane Kennedy, “Introduction: Reinterpreting Exploration,” in Reinterpreting Exploration: The West in the World, ed. Dane Kennedy (Oxford, 2014), 1–18.

7 David Blackbourn, The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape and the Making of Modern Germany (New York, 2006), 175.

8 Bruno Latour, Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society (Cambridge, MA, 1987), 232–33. On Gotha's role in geographical knowledge production, see Heinz Peter Brogiato, “Gotha als Wissens-Raum,” in Die Verräumlichung des Welt-Bildes: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen zwischen “explorativer Geographie” und der “Vermessenheit” europäischer Raumphantasien, ed. Sebastian Lenz and Ferjan Ormeling (Stuttgart, 2008), 15–29. Petermann's legacy has been controversial among historians. See Philipp Felsch, Wie August Petermann den Nordpol Erfand (Munich, 2010); Michael F. Robinson, “Reconsidering the Theory of the Open Polar Sea,” in Extremes: Oceanography's Adventures at the Poles, ed. Keith R. Benson and Helen M. Rozwadowski (Sagamore Beach, MA, 2007), 15–29; E[rki] Tammiksaar, N[atal'ya] G. Sukhova, and I[an] R. Stone, “Hypothesis versus Fact: August Petermann and Polar Research,” Arctic 52:3 (September 1999): 237–44Google Scholar.

9 The most comprehensive study of early German polar exploration is Reinhard Krause's meticulous dissertation, “Die Gründungsphase deutscher Polarforschung, 1865–1875” (PhD diss., University of Hamburg, 1991). See also Herbert Abel and Hans Jessen, Kein Weg durch das Packeis: Anfänge der deutschen Polarforschung, 1868–1889 (Bremen, 1954). For broader overviews, see David Thomas Murphy, German Exploration of the Polar World: A History, 1870–1940 (Lincoln, NE, 2002); Christine Reinke-Kunze, Aufbruch in die weiße Wildnis: Die Geschichte der deutschen Polarforschung (Hamburg, 1992). For Otto Volger, see Deborah R. Coen, The Earthquake Observers: Disaster Science from Lisbon to Richter (Chicago, 2013), 71–74.

10 Freies Deutsches Hochstift für Wissenschaften, Künste und allgemeine Bildung, Amtlicher Bericht über die Erste Versammlung Deutscher Meister und Freunde der Erdkunde in Frankfurt a. M. (Frankfurt, 1865), 16. Emphasis in text.

11 As quoted in Hugo Ewald Weller, August Petermann: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der geographischen Entdeckungen und der Kartographie im 19. Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1911), 78.

12 See Christian Jacob, The Sovereign Map: Theoretical Approaches to Cartography throughout History, ed. Edward H. Dahl, trans. Tom Conley (Chicago, 2006).

13 See Pieter [M.] Judson, “‘Every German visitor has a völkisch obligation he must fulfill’: Nationalist Tourism in the Austrian Empire, 1880–1918,” in Histories of Leisure, ed. Rudy Koshar (Oxford, 2002), 147–68; Jeremy King, “The Nationalization of East Central Europe: Ethnicism, Ethnicity, and Beyond,” in Staging the Past: The Politics of Commemoration in Habsburg Central Europe, 1848 to the Present, ed. Maria Bucur and Nancy M. Wingfield (West Lafayette, 2001), 112–52.

14 See Andreas W. Daum, Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung, und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914 (Munich, 1998), 161–67.

15 See Susanne Rau, Räume: Konzepte, Wahrnehmungen, Nutzungen (Frankfurt, 2013).

16 For Heimat and German nationalism, see Celia Applegate, A Nation of Provincials: The German Idea of Heimat (Berkeley, 1990).

17 As quoted by Weller, 78.

18 Amtlicher Bericht, 51.

19 Ibid., 6–7.

20 See Ernst Rudolf Huber, Dokumente zur deutschen Verfassungsgeschichte, vol. 2, Deutsche Verfassungsdokumente 1851–1900 (Stuttgart, 1964), 182.

21 Ferdinand Hochstetter to August Petermann, 10 October 1865. Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Sammlung Perthes Archiv (hereafter FBG SPA), PGM 060 Z. 109–10.

22 Hochstetter, Ferdinand, as quoted by “Berichte über die Versammlungen der kaiserlich-königlichen Geographischen Gesellschaft, Versammlung am 22. Oktober 1865,” Mittheilungen der kaiserlich-königlichen Geographischen Gesellschaft 10 (1866–67): 1–7, at 2Google Scholar.

23 Hochstetter to Petermann, 25 November 1865. FBG SPA, PGM 060 Z. 94–95.

24 Krause, “Gründungsphase,” 42–43.

25 Hochstetter to Petermann, 10 June 1868, FBG SPA, PGM 060, Z. 148.

26 Frank Berger, Bruno P. Besser, and Reinhard A. Krause, with Petra Kämpf and Enrico Mazzoli, Carl Weyprecht (1838–1881): Seeheld, Polarforscher, Geophysiker—Wissenschaftlicher und privater Briefwechsel des österreichischen Marineoffiziers zur Begründung der internationalen Polarforschung (Vienna, 2008), 254.

27 For Weyprecht, see Reinhard A. Krause, “Carl Weyprecht (1838–1881)—Initiator der internationalen Polarforschung,” in ibid., 19–54.

28 “Aufruf zur Deckung der Kosten der zweiten deutschen Nordpolar-Expedition,” in Die zweite deutsche Nordpolar-Expedition: Officielle Mittheilungen des Bremischen Comités (Braunschweig, 1870), 59–62, at 59, 61. Payer was the first to climb more than thirty Alpine peaks between 1863 and 1868, and his mountaineering publications included “Eine Besteigung des Großglockner von Kals aus im September 1863,” PGM 9 (1864): 321–31Google Scholar; “Die Adamello-Presanella-Alpen,” PGM Erg.-H. 17 (1865)Google Scholar; “Die Ortler-Alpen,” PGM Erg.-H. 18 (1867)Google Scholar; “Madatsch” and “Zebru,” Jahrbuch des Österreichischen Alpen-vereines 3 (1867): 350–56Google Scholar; “Die westlichen Ortler-Alpen,” PGM Erg.-H. 23 (1868)Google Scholar; “Der Monte Viós” Jahrbuch des Österreichischen Alpen-vereines 4 (1868): 380–83Google Scholar; “Die südlichen Ortler-Alpen,” PGM Erg.-H. 27 (1869)Google Scholar; “Die Bocca di Brenta,” Jahrbuch des Österreichischen Alpen-vereines 5 (1869): 133–49Google Scholar.

29 “Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Fjord,” Wiener Zeitung, 21 October 1870. Relations between the tempestuous Petermann and the expedition's leader, Carl Koldewey, along with the organizing committee (both situated in Bremen) were often fraught. See Krause, “Gründungsphase,” 177–79, 197–98. As such, Payer and Petermann were natural allies in attempts to counterbalance the influence of Bremen. See Felsch, August Petermann, 213. Why this fjord attracted such attention is partially due to the ostensibly impenetrable ring of mountains and glaciers that line the coast of Greenland, making its interior extremely difficult to access. Many theorists posited the existence of some fertile Arctic Eden somewhere in central Greenland, and fjords might allow for the discovery of such areas. See Janet Martin-Nielsen, Eismitte in the Scientific Imagination: Knowledge and Politics at the Center of Greenland (Basingstoke, 2013), 13–17.

30 Felsch, August Petermann, 211–13.

31 Carl Börgen to Bremen Polarverein, 15 January 1871, as quoted by Krause, “Gründungsphase,” 222.

32 See Frank Berger, Julius Payer: Die unerforschte Welt der Berge und des Eises (Innsbruck and Vienna, 2015), 75–76; Felsch, August Petermann, 211–13; Krause, “Gründungsphase,” 208–10.

33 Johann (Hans) Nepomuk Wilczek, Hans Wilczek erzählt Seinen Enkeln Erinnerungen aus Seinem Leben, ed. Elizabeth Kinsky-Wilczek (Graz, 1933), 197.

34 “Vorwärts!” Hans Jörgel von Gumpoldskirchen 41, no. 18 (27 April 1872): 2–3, at 2Google Scholar.

35 “Vereinsnachrichten,” Wiener Zeitung, 20 January 1872. Willem Barentsz (often written as Barents, c. 1550–97) was a Dutch Arctic explorer after whom the Barents Sea was later named. He was forced to overwinter on Novaya Zemlya in 1596–97 and died, but it remains unknown if he was actually buried there. See Zeeberg, Jaapjan J. et al. , “Search for Barents: Evaluation of Possible Burial Sites on North Novaya Zemlya, Russia,” Arctic 55:4 (December 2002): 329–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

36 “Die österreichische Nordpol-Expedition,” Triester Zeitung, 8 March 1872.

37 “Vereinsnachrichten,” Wiener Zeitung, 20 January 1872.

38 August von Fligely, handwritten report, “Aufruf an die Gesamtheit der Angehörigen obbenannter k.k. Armee Anstalt,” Österreichisches Staatsarchiv (hereafter ÖStA), Kriegsarchiv Nachlaß Payer A/204, III: 8.

39 “Tagesneuigkeiten,” Fremden-Blatt, 28 February 1872 (evening edition).

40 “Österreichische Nordpol-Expedition,” Neue Freie Presse, 22 March 1872.

41 For Graz, see “Personalnachricten,” Wiener Zeitung, 21 February 1872 (evening edition). For Teplitz, see “Aus dem Stadtverordneten-Collegium,” Teplitz-Schönauer Anzeiger, 2 December 1871. For Pola, “Österreichische Nordpol-Expedition,” Neue Freie Presse, 5 March 1872 (evening edition). For Pest and Brünn, “Nordpol-Expedition,” Neue Freie Presse, 21 March 1872 (evening edition). For Trieste, “Die Führer der Nordpolexpedition,” Neues Fremden-Blatt, 28 February 1872. Weyprecht delivered a lecture at the Pic-Nic Verein in Fiume; see Heinrich von Littrow, Sulla spedizione Austriaca al Polo Artico (Fiume, 1872). Julius Payer's most recent biographer claims that Payer managed to raise 5,000 gulden from his trips to Klagenfurt and Villach. See Berger, Julius Payer, 88.

42 Littrow, Sulla Spedizione Austriaca, 3.

43 “Geologische Reichsanstalt,” Die Presse, 22 February 1872.

44 “Mittheilungen aus dem Publicum,” Neue Freie Presse, 9 March 1872; “Niederösterreichischer Gewerbeverein,” Neue Freie Presse, 24 March 1872.

45 Blank table from the Wiener militär-wissenschaftlichen Verein, dated 1872. ÖStA, Kriegsarchiv, Nachlaß Payer A:204, III: 29; “Aufruf,” Armee-Zeitung, 11 March 1872.

46 “Zur österreichischen Nordpol-Expedition,” Die Presse, 19 March 1872.

47 “Die Ausstellung der Nordpol-Expedition,” Die Presse, 17 April 1872.

48 “Tritsch-Tratsch,” Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt, 30 April 1872.

49 Hamann, Günther, “Die Entdeckung des Franz-Josefs-Landes vor Hundert Jahren,” Zeitschrift für Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie 10 (1974): 153–80, at 158Google Scholar.

50 Rechnungs-Abschluss des Comités für die österreichisch-ungarische Nordpol-Expedition (Vienna, 1874), 9.

51 Ibid., 1–7.

52 Ibid. Any possible relation between Frau Křzisch and the previously mentioned Gymnasium student Friedrich is unknown. I exclude from this accounting donations collected by local organizations and then recorded by the Vienna committee as one mass contribution, such as the 4,175 florins and 17 kreutzer from the Klagenfurt subsidiary committee.

53 Protocol, 5 February 1872. ÖStA, Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv, UM PA 1872 Z. 146. The ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education each contributed 3,000 florins to the Tegetthoff. The Trade Ministry donated 2,000. The Imperial-Royal army delivered 7,639 florins to the cause, and the contribution of the Military-Geographical Institute amounted to 1,132 florins. The admiralty contributed 24 florins.

54 Rechnungs-Abschluss, 1–10.

55 Schimanski and Spring, Passagiere des Eises, 224–31.

56 Ibid., 286–300.

57 “Von der slavischen Nordpol-Expedition,” Deutsche Zeitung, 25 September 1874 (evening edition).

58 Schimanski and Spring, Passagiere des Eises, 298.

59 “Zum Empfang der Nordpolfahrer in Pest,” Neues Fremden-Blatt, 13 October 1874.

60 I thank Pieter Judson for supplying this very helpful tent-based image of conceiving of the German “nation.”

61 Sondhaus, Lawrence, “The Austro-Hungarian Naval Officer Corps,” Austrian History Yearbook 24 (1993): 51–78 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 61–62.

62 Lothar Höbelt, “Die Marine,” in Die Habsburgermonarchie, 1848–1918, vol. 5, Die Bewaffnete Macht, ed. Adam Wandruszka and Peter Urbanitsch (Vienna, 1987), 687–763, at 700–749; Peter Salcher, Die Geschichte der k.u.k. Marine-Akademie (Pola, 1902), 28.

63 Christoph Hatschek, “Sehnsucht nach fernen Ländern: Die Entdeckungsreisen der k. (u.) k. Kriegsmarine,” in Die Entdeckung der Welt, Die Welt der Entdeckungen: Österreichische Forscher, Sammler, Abenteurer, ed. Wilfried Seipel (Vienna and Milan, 2002), 85–99, at 93; Krause, “Carl Weyprecht,” 20.

64 For the Austrian liberal nexus of commerce, the sea, and empire, see Evelyn Kolm, Die Ambitionen Österreich-Ungarns im Zeitalter des Hochimperialismus (Frankfurt, 2001).

65 Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair, “Österreich und das Meer,” Allgemeine Zeitung (1872), reprinted in Wüllerstorf-Urbair, Vermischte Schriften (Graz, 1889), 164–77.

66 See John Gascoigne, Science in the Service of Empire: Joseph Banks, the British State and the Uses of Science in the Age of Revolution (Cambridge, 1998).

67 “Das Mysterium des Poles,” Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 26 September 1874.

68 See Kwan, Jonathan, “Austro-German Liberalism and the Coming of the 1867 Compromise: ‘Politics Again in Flux,’” Austrian History Yearbook 44 (2013): 62–87 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

69 Wüllerstorf-Urbair, Bernard, “Die meteorologischen Beobachtungen und die Analyse des Schiffscurses während der Polarexpedition unter Weyprecht und Payer, 1872–1874,” Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Classe 35 (1878): 1–24 Google Scholar.

70 Heinrich Ritter von Srbik, Aus Österreichs Vergangenheit: Von Prinz Eugen zu Franz Joseph (Salzburg, 1949), 142.

71 Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck, “Die Bewaffnete Macht in Staat und Gesellschaft,” in Die Habsburgermonarchie, 1848–1918, 5:1–141, at 107; Wagner, Walter, “Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld, Franz Freiherr,” in Neue Deutsche Biographie 13 (1982), 269Google Scholar [online version]; http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd133510743.html. Last accessed on 15 July 2013.

72 von Kuhnenfeld, Franz Kuhn, “Über die Ursachen des eisfreien Meeres in den Nordpolar-Gegenden,” Mittheilungen der k.k. geographischen Gesellschaft in Wien 15 (1872): 209–17Google Scholar.

73 ÖStA, Kriegsarchiv QL-Marine Z. 6293: Wohlgemuth, Emil Edlen von. For perceptions of Rudolf's interest in polar exploration, see Günther Hamann, “Das Zeitalter Kaiser Franz Josefs im Spiegel der Topographie des Franz-Josefs-Landes,” in Beiträge zur Allgemein Geschichte: Alexander Novotny zur Vollendung seines 70. Lebensjahres gewidmet, vol. 4, ed. Hermann Wiesflecker and Othmar Pickl (Graz, 1975), 139–51, at 141.

74 “Wien, 24. September,” Neue Freie Presse, 25 September 1874.

75 “Ein Epilog zur Nordpolfahrt,” Deutsche Zeitung, 2 October 1874.

76 For Hall, see Chauncey C. Loomis, Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer (New York, 1971).

77 “Aus der Chronik unserer Nordpolfahrer,” Fremdenblatt, 25 September 1874.

78 “Zum Willkomm,” Deutsche Zeitung, 25 September 1874.

79 Ibid.

80 Singer, Unsere Nordpolfahrer, 6.

81 Weyprecht, as quoted by “Bankett zu Ehren der Nordpolfahrer,” Neue Freie Presse, 1 October 1874.

82 The multinational composition of the expedition has, in subsequent years, lent to various nationalist appropriations of the Tegetthoff, including German, Croatian, and Italian nationalist projects. See Stephen A. Walsh, “On Slippery Ice: Discovery, Imperium, and the Austro-Hungarian North Polar Expedition (1872–4),” in Expedition into Empire: Exploratory Journeys and the Making of the Modern World, ed. Martin Thomas (New York and London, 2015), 148–70, at 148–58.

83 The crew of the Tegetthoff comprised: Pietro Lusina from Fiume/Rijeka; Elling Carlsen from Tromsø (Norway); Antonio Vecerina from Draga (Istria); Giuseppe Latkovich from Fianona/Plomin, Istria; Lorenzo Marola and Pietro Fallesich, both from Fiume/Rijeka; Antonio Zaninovich from Lessina/Hvar; Antonio Catarinich from Lussinpiccolo/Mali Lošinj; Vincenzo Palmich from Lovrana/Lovran, Istria; Giorgio Stiglich from Buccari/Bakar; Antonio Lukinovich from Brazza/Brač (Dalmatia); Antonio Scarpa from Trieste; Giacomo Sussich and Francesco Lettis, both from Volosca/Volosko (Istria); Johann Orasch from Graz; Josef Pospischill from Prerau/Přerov (Moravia); and Johann Haller and Alexander Klotz, both from the Passeier Valley in Tirol. There were profuse spelling variations for most of these names. I have retained the “Italian” first names of the sailors because those were the only versions written down at the time. Did the sailor Lukinovich, for example, personally consider his first name to be “Antonio” or “Ante” (or, indeed, something else)? There is no way to tell. But there is equally no evidence that he had necessarily chosen one and not another, or that he considered the difference to be relevant to his life.

84 Julius Payer, “Österreichische Nordpol-Expedition,” Neue Freie Presse, 9 October 1872.

85 As quoted by Julius Payer, “Österreichisch-ungarische Nordpol-Expedition” Neue Freie Presse, 30 July 1872.

86 Hermann Quiquerez, Österreich-Ungarn Hoch Oben im Norden! Geschichte der Österreich-Ungarischen Nordpol-Expedition in den Jahren 1872–1874 (Vienna, 1878).

87 Ibid., 13–14.

88 Ibid., 44.

89 Ibid. On the construction of the image of Emperor Francis Joseph as father figure of an idealized monarchy, see Daniel L. Unowsky, The Pomp and Politics of Patriotism: Imperial Celebrations in Habsburg Austria, 1848–1916 (West Lafayette, 2005), 77–112.

90 Quiquerez, Österreich-Ungarn Hoch Oben im Norden, 45.

91 Friedrich Marx, “Nordlandsrecken,” Neue Illustrirte Zeitung, 13 September 1874.

92 Julius Payer, “Österreichisch-ungarische Nordpolexpedition 1872,” Neue Freie Presse, 30 July 1872.

93 “Hinüber-herüber,” Morgen-Post, 2 October 1874.

94 “Ein Epilog zur Nordpolfahrt,” Deutsche Zeitung, 2 October 1874.

95 Report of Vienna city council session, 18 September 1874. Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Berichte über die öffentliche Sitzungen des Gemeinderathes der k.k. Reichshaupt- und Residenzstadt Wien, 1874 (Vienna, 1874), vol. 2, Sitzung 60, §10.

96 “Von unseren Nordpolfahrern,” Österreichisches Volksblatt, 16 October 1874; “Was gibt's denn Neues? Die Nordpolfahrer,” Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt, 22 September 1874.

97 “Oberlieutenant Payer, Führer der Österreichischen Nordpol Expedition. Gotha, 11. Oktober, 1874,” FBG SPA PGM 082/2: Payer, Julius, Z. 312.

98 Carl E. Schorske, Fin-de-siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture (New York, 1981), 43.

99 For example, see Deborah R. Coen, Vienna in the Age of Uncertainty: Science, Liberalism and Private Life (Chicago, 2007); Pieter M. Judson, Exclusive Revolutionaries: Liberal Politics, Social Experience, and National Identity in the Austrian Empire, 1848–1914 (Ann Arbor, 1996); John W. Boyer, Political Radicalism in Late Imperial Vienna: Origins of the Christian Social Movement, 1848–1897 (Chicago, 1981).